Well, I got done watching the Legends of Korra, and here is what I thought.

Overall I enjoyed it, but what was annoying me a little was how weak the bending was. Perhaps Katara, Toph, Zuko, and Aang were just super powered young kids/Masters and this was how "normal bending" was. I don't really know, but that's what bugged be the most was the inconsistency in bending between the two series. It looked so weak,despite people's advances into the higher forms of bending, such as lightening and metal bending.

The rapid spring of technology into what felt like the "roaring 20's" was... interesting. I can't say I hate it, but I don't love it either. I liked how The Last Airbender felt magical and that bending was a necessity or close to an God-given ability. But in Legends of Korra you can go "Loom at me, I can burst flames out of my hands n'stuff" and some guy across the room will put a glove on and shock the shit out of you. Its not as "cool" anymore, unless you're a blood bender...

And don't get me started on the weak love triangles.

But I look forward to the next season, which is rumored to be this April.

Bending being downplayed like that irked me as well, but I've got a hunch on why it seemed so weak in LOK compared to LAB. We already know that the next season will be about spirits and the spirit world. Clearly, this rapid advancement of technology in their world led to a steep decline in spirituality. Because the benders of this era don't value or even remember the spiritual aspect of bending, it has resulted in weaker bending overall. Sure, we do see an increase in "advanced" benders with metalbending and lightningbending, but that's simply learning the technique. They're just going through the motions without understanding why these motions create lightning. The world wasn't any better off having an almost strictly physical avatar that barely understood the spiritual aspects herself. Though, maybe the avatar is born with qualities that reflect the world he/she is born into.

But, like you said, it's possible the LAB main cast were all prodigy benders and we're actually getting a look at average level bending here. Also, as the world becomes more modern, benders will have to tone it down a bit to avoid unnecessary destruction. Like when Korra caused all that property damage in the first episode and everyone involved would have rather the crooks just gotten away instead. But it would be nice to see something more creative than "telekinetically lift rock, launch rock at bad guy." I'm just hoping that in season 2 Korra works to restore spirituality to the world and we see some truly awesome examples of bending. Like when Katara fought Master Pakku... damn that was an impressive fight. In the LOK era, 2 waterbenders fighting will just shoot jets of water at each other. Whatever happened to specific techniques, like the octopus or the water whip?

This thread needs updating, so post I shall, and in this post I cast dark summoning on all y'all, the star-spangled and newbed alike. Cross the world and scour for me information on Korra! Korra, bedamn it all! FLY MY PRETTIES. FLY!